There’s never a bad time to go through this great thread and refresh your memory
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Thank you. I also had substantial and consistent leaf burning with the AquaCleanse across a variety of plants, even at 50% dilution, so was hoping there was a better alternative.
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@Tykal, that’s interesting because I use the Brio 500ppm myself…
I may be able to give you some valuable insights…first a quick question…are you using it straight out of the bottle or are you diluting with tap water?
Hypochlorous acid is very sensitive to pH. If you take hypochlorous and raise the pH above 7 it quickly changes to hypochlorite (bleach) which will burn the hell out of your plants!!!
If you have no available R/O or distilled water, and MUST use available tap water you have an option…
Take your Brio and add distilled vinegar (white vinegar) slowly to bring the pH down to 3.5-4.0…this should buffer your addition of tap water. NEVER adjust the pH of your Brio hypochlorous ! Hypochlorous acid is SURFACE active…it’s designed to be safe down to pH 3…it is NOT LIKE a NUTRIENT you’re going to be feeding your plants…hope this helps you out…let me know if you have any other questions…Bob
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I was talking about the AquaCleanse, glad to see there was an alternative like Brio to try out. I did a 50% or 60% dilution with distilled water (bottled) whenever I used it on the plants. Fried 'em every time. Not to the point of death, but significant leaf damage. Still good to clean around the house with. Appreciate your tips on the vinegar tip! I’ll keep experimenting and hopefully have better luck. 
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That souinds like a quality control issue…diluting with distilled water shouldn’t have been an issue.
Because the Brio is pretty reasonably priced, I just apply it full strength and have never had an isue…
Good luck to you…
Bob
You should really look into getting a generator. I bought mine from Controlomatic, and can make 5 gallons per run. I bought a “blemished” unit for $99, and saved a BUNCH off regular retail, and still have yet to find a blemish on it. The 2 things I’ve added to my arsenal are sulphur twice during Veg, and HOCI through flower, and PM has been nonexistent for me out in the swamp boxes the last 2 seasons, before that, spent a lot of money trying to control it, to no avail. Now, don’t have to worry a single bit.
I’ve got a grand total of $120 into the sulphur, generator and supplies to make the HOCI and don’t have to worry about PM ever again.
My neighbors, love em to death, spent close to $1k over the last 2 seasons trying every product they could find, because they “read it on the internet” and it only kept it at bay for a couple days max. Went over, sprayed sulphur for them in Veg, gave them HOCI to spray during flower, and they had their 1st PM free harvest in probably 8 years for literally Pennies on the Dollar. I will never use a pre-made bottle of HOCI because I don’t trust what’s in there. I make my own, and have absolute control over I’m making,
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Considering that… what’s the “additive” they sell?
I got myself a fogger this season hopefully my budrot concerns disappear 🫠
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Just ordered a 200ppm generator to keep my hydro setup clean, I’ve used bleach in solution at .25ml/gal think this stuffs more like 1ml/gal
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I bought a blemished unit on your recommendation. I only got the 1 gallon size, but I have already made about 4 gallons. Here are my questions…
1 - how can I verify the ppm of the solution other than test strips?
2 - with their recipe for 1 gallon (1 tsp salt & 1 tsp vinegar) I always end up with a pH over 6. I have modified the recipe to 1 tsp salt and 5 tsp vinegar and that gets me to 5.4 Should I add more vinegar to get it closer to 5.0?
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Sorry, don’t mean to butt in on your conversation…
Without the correct test strip there really is no way of verifying ppm
You DEFINITELY want to keep your pH at 4.0-5.0, especially if you’re toring it at all
Remember: While doing your brew, the only thing that differentiates whether you’re making hypochlorous acid OR hypochlorite(BLEACH) is the pH… distilled vinegar is cheap, keep the pH DOWN !
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I know you mentioned earlier in this post that you can add distilled vinegar to prepared product…does that fit my situation as well?
These are the test strips I bought - SuperCheck Chlorine Test Strips, 0-750 ppm, 50 Count, Chlorine Test Strips for Food Service, Measure Chlorine Contents in Sanitizing Solutions, Sanitizer Test Strips Food Service, Bleach Test Strips: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
Should I trust them for ppm?
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Go up to post #163 on this thread and you’ll see the only test strips proven accurate with hypochlorous acid… Bartivation strips…I do believe they may be available on amazon, but not sure !
As you get higher concentrations of acid, I was told you just dilute the acid 50/50 with water and take a reading…multiply your reading by 2…
Sorry…@Proud_Heretic, yes…if you want to store your acid long term you can take it down to pH 3-4.0
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Hey Bob,
I got the Bartivation strips and when I test my gallon which is at 4.9 on pH meter, the test strip is nearly black so I am assuming it is higher concentration than the 0-2000ppm test strips can measure. I’m currently corresponding with the owner of Bartivation and he believes that adding the additional vinegar in order to lower the pH is actually dangerous because he says it will produce chlorine gas. Here is a quote from his most recent email
“When chlorine bleach is mixed with an acid, chlorine gas is given off. Chlorine gas and water combine to make hydrochloric and hypochlorous acids.”
Any thoughts on this?
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Certainly !
@Proud_Heretic
OK, when you are using any of the hypochlorous acid generators you can actually produce hypochlorite (Bleach) or hypochlorous acid…the pH of your ‘brew’ is dictated with the amount of acetic acid (Vinegar). Either a HIGH or LOW pH will be problematic…
OK, so now look at the pH chart up on post #178…you can see that the HYPOCHLOROUS Acid (HOCL) content is greatest at a pH of about 3.5-5.5. So THIS is the safest pH range of your hypochlorous acid !
You will also note that the gentleman is correct…if indeed you go anywhere BELOW about pH 3.5 you are starting to produce LESS hypochlorous and MORE hypochlorite (Bleach). Similarly, as your pH RISES above ph 6.0 you are again producing more hypochlorite (Bleach)
I believe I have consistently stated you want your pH between 3.5-5.5 . I have bought 500 ppm (Brio) hypochlorous acid from amazon and the pH is around 6.0. I want to preserve it’s viability, so I simply add distilled (white) vinegar slowly to get my pH down to around 4.0
Hope that helps clarify the situation for you ! Thanks for the question !
Bob
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Are these the appropriate strips to test the 2 gallons of Brio I have ordered?
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Yes sir…just note those are pH test strips…
As far as I know there is also a Bartivation strip for testing ppm of hypochlorous acid…
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3.5 to 5.0. 
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Lots of good info here, definitely feeling a little over my head after reading the last couple of days. I just wanted to confirm, this is safe to spray on flowering plants? I’m in week three now and think I’m having some PM popping up in my tent for the first time and am trying to make a game plan. I do already have some dr zymes, but after reading through this thread this seems like a safer option correct?
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Wel I’m sure bob will pop in with the real data but i can tell you I’m spraying and have been for 4weeks.
Im in week 4-6 depending on strain
I’m running her at 350ish ppm if that helps. No damage to pistills unless I get too close with the atomizer. Damn thing will blow branches off if you get on top of her. Good luck
@thatdankbassist
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